Human Rights Problems in Croatia (Danube Region)

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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 16:47:59 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Human Rights Problems in Croatia (Danube Region)

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]> 

Original sender: Panayote Elias Dimitras <[email protected]>

Human Rights Problems in Croatia (Danube Region)


Croatian Helsinki Committee
 
STATEMENT NO. 69
 
Problems related with the reintegration of the Danube Region
 
Closely monitoring the process of peaceful reintegration of the
Croatian Danube Basin Region (hereafter referred to as the Region),
which had been under greater-Serb occupation, into the administrative
and legal system of the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Helsinki
Committee for human rights (CHC) has issued numerous warnings
regarding the need for the Croatian government to take more energetic
steps in preventing any escalation of the situation.

The Defence and National Security Council (VONS), a para-state body,
has recommended that the government of the Republic of Croatia bring
in a moratorium on public gatherings in the Region "so that possible
provocation, which might nullify the results achieved thus far with
respect to the normalisation of life in the Region, can be avoided.

Using the situation in the Region as an alibi, however, VONS also
requested that the government, or rather the Ministry of the Interior
(i.e. the police), "undertake all necessary steps with respect to
preventing anything and everything that might incite provocation,
create insecurity and impede the further normalisation of life
throughout the whole of the country".

At a meeting held on March 12th, 1998, the Croatian government
commanded the Minister of the Interior to officially order police
stations and departments in the Region "to, in accordance with
provisions of the Law on Public Gatherings, prohibit public gatherings
until August 1st, 1998, with the exception of those gatherings which
relate to article 3 of the Law.

The CHC denounces this decision considering it entirely illegal,
damaging and dangerous. By introducing a prohibition on the holding of
public gatherings in the Region, the government is side-stepping its
responsibility in upholding and enforcing the law.  In violation of
existing international norms and laws of the Republic of Croatia, the
Croatian government has given the Ministry of the Interior measures
through which the human rights of Croatian citizens are permanently
restricted. The CHC is of the opinion that the construction of a civil
and democratic society in the Region, or in any part of Croatia for
that matter, is impossible if the rights and freedoms of citizens are
not respected.

The government had other legal means at its disposal with which to, in
accordance with the legal statutes and regulations, prevent neo-nazi
and pro-fascist manifestations which have been organised by the
Croatian Party of Rights (HSP); a party which, incidentally, is a
coalition partner with the ruling HDZ in numerous areas throughout the
country.  The right to gather and meet publicly should not be taken
away from the remainder of Croatia's citizens and political parties
just because 700 people dressed in black (like neo-nazis) decided to,
using Nazi salutes and icononography, march through the streets of
Vukovar (with the blessing of the police who watched indifferently
from the sidelines).  The government had legal recourse in article 39
of the Croatian constitution, according to which, "any reference or
appeal to war or the use of force, or to ethnic, racial and religious
hatred, or any other form of intolerance, is prohibited and
punishable."

The government, in accordance with article 174 of the Criminal Code
and using the Ministry of the Interior, could, and should have, laid
criminal charges against the initiators of the gathering for having
committed the crime of disseminating national and ethnic hatred. 
Section 1 of article 174 of the Penal Code states that those accused
of violating this law, "violate basic human rights and freedoms
recognised by the international community". The government instead, as
a smokescreen, laid a few misdemeanour charges, which is common
practice for the Ministry of the Interior when it pertains to any kind
of excesses against minorities, even physical violence.

Bearing in mind that the previous Criminal Code, which was in force
until December 31st, 1997, also contained provisions, in article 240,
for criminally prosecuting the criminal offence of ethnic, racial, and
religious hatred, dissension and intolerance, the CHC public puts the
following question to the government: From the beginning of the war to
the present, how many criminal charges have been laid against citizens
of the Republic of Croatia on the basis of this crime and how many
judgements have been handed down?

The Croatian government's decision to prohibit public gatherings
contravenes, above all, article 42 of the Croatian constitution which
states, "All citizens have the right to peaceful public gathering and
protest". Those constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms can,
"be restricted by law so as to protect the freedom and rights of
others and the legal system, public morality and health" (article 15
of the Constitution).

Through its decision to prohibit public gatherings, the Croatian
government violates numerous international charters and conventions
which, according to article 134 of the Constitution, "comprise a part
of the internal legal system of the Republic of Croatia, and have
precedence over Croatian law".

First and foremost, the Croatian government is violating articles 4,
20 and 21 of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights adopted in 1976. Article 4, paragraph 3 reads, "Any State Party
to the present Covenant availing itself of the right of derogation
shall immediately inform the other States Parties to the present
Covenant, through the intermediary of the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, of the provisions from which it has derogated and of
the reasons by which it was actuated".

The government's decision to prohibit public gatherings also violates
the European Convention for the protection of human rights and basic
freedoms. To be more precise, the Croatian government has various
constitutional and legal measures at its disposal which allow it to
introduce a state of emergency in the whole country or in any part
thereof. In accordance with provisions of the Convention, governments
which make use of the right to revoke their obligations, must inform
the general secretary of the Council of Europe.

Finally, with this decision, the government of the Republic of Croatia
violates the existing Law on Public Gatherings which reinforces the
constitutionally guaranteed (article 16) right of peaceful gathering
and public protest under conditions regulated exclusively in article 1
of that law.

The Law gives only the police the authority to prohibit planned and
registered public gatherings, and only if "public peace and order
might be imperilled".

We are aware of the fact that the international community, due to
pragmatic reasons - stabilisation of the political situation in the
Croatian Danube Basin Region - might be inclined to "look the other
way" at this type of behaviour from the Croatian government; behaviour
which destroys the constitutional order and the foundations of a state
based on the rule of law, and which doesn't implement into everyday
life international documents which Croatia has accepted, ratified and
built into its domestic legislation.

If one takes into consideration the fact that the Croatian authorities
are using their own ineffectiveness to offer tacit approval to a
meeting of neo-nazis in Vukovar, it becomes obvious that what is
really at issue here is an intentionally staged incident, which was
used as an excuse for the introduction of restrictions which retard
the complete development of human freedoms, democracy and civil
society in the Republic of Croatia.

For the CHC
 
Cedo Prodanovic, member of the Presidency

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